Interesting article by MattKettman on the up&coming wineries in Temecula: WE:Temecula
He, of course, tosses in a mention of the ubiquitous bachelorette parties & almond-flavored sparkling wine. But he emphasizes that the wineries are significantly upping their quality. But you have to visit the region to find those wines, apparently. They’re not widely distributed.
Back in the mid-'70’s, the wines made there by EliCallaway were as good as any you could find in Calif. But Temecula hit a serious slump after Pierce’s disease…and even before that, in fact. So the area has a great, relatively unfulfilled potential.
Tom
I saw that - and I have had some wonderful wines from Temecula over the years. It really hurt the old school wineries in Temecula when they started pulling out all those old vines around the Ontario Airport and Rancho Cucamonga. I remember watching in horror a few years ago when this old, old vineyard of Zinfandel vines were plowed under to make room for new homes.
And I agree about Callaway. I remember a couple early 80s Sauvignon Blancs that were amongst the finest I had ever tasted - and I can still picture them 40 years later. The Sweet Nancy Late Harvest Chenin Blanc was a pure revelation.
Yup, Thomas…it breaks my heart when I’m flying into Ontario and look down on some of those old/few remaining patchs of ground
where you see those regular patterns of abandoned vnyds.
I liked those Callaway Cabs/Zins/PS’s as well. But they were all aged in German oak and they tasted different from other Calif
versions and were not highly regarded because they were “different”. Still have a SweetNancy left and a Port, I think.
Tom
I was just in temecula two months ago for a wedding. It was at the Ponte Winery. I tasted through maybe 12 wines from there. Place is really pretty, but boy are the wines a sweet mess.
Anyone ever notice the vineyard right on I-10 in Coachella? Square in the middle of the desert.
It has to be lowest, below sea level, and hottest vineyard in north America. Place is an inferno. vines looked beautiful last week driving by at 85mph.
Things have changed a GREAT deal over the last 20 years in Temecula. It’s now all resorts with wineries attached and most of the little guys who made wines from the old vines in Rancho Cucamonga are gone, or have no viable fruit sources anymore.
The Hart Winery used to produce some terrific reds from those old vines, but last time I went through their lineup - it was ‘meh’ all the way around. Had a nice no-oak Chardonnay from a Baily Winery a couple years ago as well, and a really nice Cortese from one of the newer ‘Resort plus’ wineries. But outside of that, blah.
ONE MORE THING. I was working for the Importer who represented Angelo Gaja about 15 years ago, and we were doing a wine dinner in San Diego. We had a day to waste in San Diego, so Angelo asked me to show him some of the local wineries, so we drove to Temecula. There was a new winery at the time, advertising that they made the best Nebbiolo in the World, and it was selling for some astronomical price ($60-$70 a bottle). Gaja had noticed that his name was mentioned in one of their promotional pieces; “Even better than Gaja!” - so Angelo wanted to pay a visit.
We walked in, the winemaker/owner was behind the bar waxing poetic about things pathetic, and everyone was oohing and aahing over his Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. We walked up, tasted both, and I mentioned to him about the Gaja quote. He went on about how the Gaja wines were overrated and his were better. It was then that I introduced him to Angelo Gaja. He turned bright red as Angelo asked him if we could do a comparison tasting. We had all of his 1990 Barbarescos in the car, including the ‘Crus’ and brought them in for him to taste. Yah buddy, your Nebbiolo is just as good as this '90 Sori San Lorenzo. We could tell that he had never had Angelo’s wines before, and probably very little upper tier Barolo or Barbaresco, but you could also tell that he was totally blown away and more than a little embarrassed. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Through the entire ordeal, Angelo still never broke into a smile. Just another day on the job.
I agree with Kettmann on Palumbo and would add one called Doffo (stiff prices but pretty much the best I tasted there a couple of years ago). The article didn’t mention many wineries… maybe because not many are worthy, but I’ve also found “tolerable” wines a bit farther south, at Orfila (in Escondido) and recently stumbled onto an interesting winemaker (also in Escondido) who also does custom work for others. His winery is called Vesper. He does some interesting varieties and I think most are grown in the area. He’s what I like to call a ‘propeller-head’ winemaker… very into all the details. A fun stop.
That said… I don’t know that there’s really anything in that area that would compare with maybe 90% of what you’d find in the Central Coast. I’ve wondered how that is when I believe a lot of the fruit they use around Temecula comes from the Central Coast.
Was there for a wedding as well a few years ago. Pretty much the same experience. Though a couple wines they had were at least drinkable compared to the cheap beer offered.
…now what are the odds that Fu has been to [fill in the blank with SoCal wedding venue] in the last 30-90 days. Shit, he might have been at my wedding in Laguna Beach in 2002, although he was about 17 then and not old enough to drink, so no notes.
In all seriouness, I must admit a visit to a barrell tasting at Stuart Cellars with my parents in 2007 (they are on the list and love the stuff-they will even ship to Iowa in July) helped nudge me into this hobby. If not great or even very good, the wines were enjoyable and better than most of the other woot-woo plonk I had tasted in the area. A fun night that helped light a fire to explore wine, particilarly in CA, in more depth.
…open bar, so no worries there, but unfortunately no panty dropper/remover (almond sprarkling). My wife is Persian, so lot’s of food and dancing while my white, midewestern family stared at each other waiting for the rubber chicken to arrive and “Tequila” to dance to. If there’s one thing about Asians and Persians, they know how to put on a wedding…lots/lots/lots of killer food.
We digress…there is another Temecula Winery that was half-decent, and a bit old-school. I think it was Mount Palomar or something to that effect. Maybe Polumbo from above? Older place and a bit kitschy, but the wines were similar and decent.
I live locally and visit semi regularly, mainly for the ambiance but wine is part of the experience obviously. I will say two general truths about temecula, one, they cater mostly to the entry level wine drinker (read rs) and two the wines have dramatically improved overall in the last five years. That being said this is not a world class region at this point, however it’s getting better. I was at a newer facility and the consulting winemaker, young guy, was wearing a Herman story sweater. We struck up a conversation about Russell. Turns out he’s from paso, and this theme runs throughout the valley. As the region gets more traffic wineries are reaching out to winemakers from warmer climates to help craft better wines instead of the sole proprietor model from the past. Still overpriced? Yes. Still importing fruit or juice ? You bet. Mega resort atmosphere? Yes. Growing? By leaps and bounds. Is it improving? Certainly. Will it ever be was region of the year for fine wine? Nope. Does it have its place, I believe it does.
